Hi Guys I'm soon going to be in China and i have been in contact with a guy there who is selling a Bacchus guitar. I will be there in China in 7 weeks to see it myself but wanted to ask you experts what you think it is?

He himself in unsure what it is but said a friend took it back from Japan. He insists its a Japanese model but he himself is unsure if its a bls 120, bls 59v or something else. Judging from from what i've seen on the internet, this doesn't appear to be Chinese ( headstock shape, etc).

Over the past couple of years I have seen two gold top Bacchus LP types locally, neither had serial numbers...I`ve been buying Bacchus guitars since the mid 1990`s and every LP type I saw from then had a serial number on the back of the headstock...I own 13 of them from the original series...all have serials...strats, teles, a junior, a precision bass...and one reason I didn`t buy the gold tops was lack of serial...I have been told at this site that Bacchus did make some without serials, fair enough, I don`t pretend to know everything about MIJ guitars and never intend to come across that way, there are enough of those guys on line. Both gold tops I saw did not have the Noble pots all my other Bacchus guitars have either...plus...in my opinion they were over priced so I passed... could be the one in question here is one of those that I`ve been told about.
One other thing...I saw vintagejim bought a Fender Japan telecaster that he says is from 1985/86...I`m not a member there so I can`t tell him...but the seller of that tele had it wrong...they must have used the A number off the bridge plate...I have the September 1993 Japanese PLAYER magazine that has that tele...the TL56-90 advertised as an Ishibashi shop order...so the guitar is from 1993. I thought about contacting the seller to tell him he had it wrong but then, I wasn`t interested in paying his asking price so let it slide. I remembered the guitar because I didn`t even know they made a `56 tele...but it was a shop order.

Over the past couple of years I have seen two gold top Bacchus LP types locally, neither had serial numbers...I`ve been buying Bacchus guitars since the mid 1990`s and every LP type I saw from then had a serial number on the back of the headstock...I own 13 of them from the original series...all have serials...strats, teles, a junior, a precision bass...and one reason I didn`t buy the gold tops was lack of serial...I have been told at this site that Bacchus did make some without serials, fair enough, I don`t pretend to know everything about MIJ guitars and never intend to come across that way, there are enough of those guys on line. Both gold tops I saw did not have the Noble pots all my other Bacchus guitars have either...plus...in my opinion they were over priced so I passed... could be the one in question here is one of those that I`ve been told about.
One other thing...I saw vintagejim bought a Fender Japan telecaster that he says is from 1985/86...I`m not a member there so I can`t tell him...but the seller of that tele had it wrong...they must have used the A number off the bridge plate...I have the September 1993 Japanese PLAYER magazine that has that tele...the TL56-90 advertised as an Ishibashi shop order...so the guitar is from 1993. I thought about contacting the seller to tell him he had it wrong but then, I wasn`t interested in paying his asking price so let it slide. I remembered the guitar because I didn`t even know they made a `56 tele...but it was a shop order.

Yes, could be some sort of refin. Looks almost like an oil finish but I think the back of the neck has been rubbed down as preferred by some. Can't see evidence of a break myself.

Dave

Look below the bottom two tuners on the headstock, not the neck.... there's a pretty noticeable, irregular horizontal indentation in the wood that runs across the breadth of the headstock.... finish looks funky there too.

thank you so much guys for all your observing and commenting. Just joined here and really appreciating your efforts. I've sent that guy you mention an email and see what he has to say!

Yes, its a little tricky to tell if its a 1 or 2 piece back....

Thanks for the observation re: possible repair job on headstock.

I guess when i check it out at the end of August, some of the mystery will be resolved! Keep on coming with those comments please and perhaps advise me what else i might check for when i finally see it in the flesh!